I recently received a used tsugaru shamisen Today and when I was about to play it, I noticed that the Azuma sawari felt like it was stuck and couldn’t be lowered anymore. Is there something I can do to fix it?
If I were to buy a new sawari, would it be able to fit? I’m not sure if the sawari for tsugaru shamisens are a “one size fits all” kind of thing. I’ve never experienced anything like this before so I’m a little lost on what to do ^^;
Hi. Can you post a picture so we can see where it is stuck ? Thanks.
This is the lowest it can go 
I also took it out to see if something was caught in it but nothing looked out of the ordinary (although I wouldn’t even know what ordinary looks like haha)
Hopefully this picture helps 
If you push on top of the wooden part (the one sticking out) would it go deeper? Sometimes glue Connecting wooden piece to the metal part got undone and it would go up no problem but refuse to lower down without extra force applied to the top. It this is the case it should be easy to fix
Just tried to push it down and it’s the lowest it can go
when I took out the sawari, I also noticed that the screw that lets it go up and down is also stuck. It can turn To raise the wooden part fine but when lowering it, it only goes up to there.
Could it be that part is what’s messed up?
Check with Kyle’s video on azuma savari:
Same idea. It should compress the spring and push the tin part up and release if undone
Looking at the photo - it is a lowest possible position. What is holding the wooden part in place?
Also, if you just insert is back, does it still sticking out with current screw position?
Is the metal part on the right solid?
Whoops sorry wrong photo. There was a small pin that fell out and I put it back In. Here’s the photo of how it is now.
Even without the pin, I noticed that it screws in only to that extent and gets jammed.
And yes I think the piece of metal is solid and I’m not sure how it’s being held in ^^;
Yes, this is the top position. You need the screw to be fully out and the part in the bottom position, like on the previous photo. After this insert it back to see if it still sticking out.
Yeah the pin attached to the screw is keeping the screw from going out. If I were to take the pin out, the wooden block won’t move at all and will stay sunken in ••;
Hmm, from my understanding the screw should be in one piece, coming thru the thread and push directly on the solid part. There should be no pin or anything. Can it be what the “pin” you talking about is a broken off part of the screw?
I was thinking that too but without that pin, the sawari wouldn’t be able to raise or lower. So I know it needs it to function 
Ok. Let me rephrase. There is no spoon 
sorry, “pin” as as separate part. This is most likely a broken-off part of the screw. All you need is to find a replacement screw with the same thread pitch (most likely metric) and the total length of the “pin” and screw leftover.
